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She wasn't sure what to make of his expression. It didn't help she was nervous as could be now that the words had left her mouth. It was something she had thought about. A fair bit, off and on. Something that was part of her foolish, selfish whims. They really didn't live all that far from each other. Just different rooms of the same building. But sometimes, like the past few days, that didn't seem to matter. Sure, they were busy- days spent training and whatnot- but there was downtime. And all the hours of the night. All time that was too often spent alone and wishing she wasn't. And Sherry wasn't happy with that.

"Am I sure?" She repeated his question. One hand reached out to touch his cheek. "I'm sure that I'm selfish and sappy, and that I love you. I want more of you, your time, your presence, your warmth. We..don't have to move all in together all at once or anything. But I- I'd rather spend my nights in your bed, with you." It was the truth, honestly. She didn't like sleeping alone, and she knew darn well what implications there were in her request.

And then, because she was Sherry and it's what she did when she was feeling nervous around Jake, she leaned in to kiss him.

It was a relief when he kissed her back. Some part of her would probably always worry about pushing him to far and making him run away scared. Or something. It had more or less happened a few times already.

But not this time.

Sherry smiled back at him. He was adorable when slightly flustered. "I--" Her brow furrowed. Had she heard him right? "I didn't say anything about marriage, silly. Just more time with you." She laughed. "No little papers, and it's not like we could get a dog or start a family or anything. In fact, I think I'd rather not have a house in town, even." The dorms were much safer, from what she could tell.

"And I'm okay with everything." She leaned in for another kiss. "As long as I get you."

She might have given him a quizzical look after his response, not sure how to read it. Had she said something wrong? Perhaps not, for he seemed to breathe a little easier a moment later. He was so confusing sometimes.

"Do I?" The question was asked with a smile before she set about kissing him again. It was not one of those questions that really needed answering.

Her eyes still felt puffy, and as she closed them she was reminded her she'd been crying. She was still sad, but for a little while it was easy to forget. Warm and safe and happy with Jake, the outside world a quiet background noise. She let herself forget, let herself dwell on the things that made her happy.

"I'm glad I have you, because you're quite kissable," she murmured. She liked kissing Jake, so she did just that. A comfortable kiss, for they'd done that a hundred times, and something Sherry worked to make a bit deeper and more passionate. Possibly working towards steamy, if he gave her enough of a response. For Sherry suddenly found herself very much wanting of 'every bit of him', in a lover's sense. It was an idea she'd fancied, and it suddenly seemed like a brilliant one.

They could make out first, though. She was okay with that. As long as Jake was okay with her hand finding it's way under his shirt, or her weight pressing him towards the bed.

She might have picked up on Jake's lack of enthusiasm before he spoke, but a want to not thing unpleasant things, his own jokes, and the fact that Jake was usually a little reluctant when it came to physical shows affection all added up to it hardly phasing her. But then he did speak, and she could hear the hesitation and uncertainty in his voice.

Sherry stopped and pushed herself up with one arm to look at him. Oh dear, what did his expression mean? Sherry felt herself going red- with embarrassment and shame.

"What?"

The deep, rolling chuckle in her head was very unwelcome. It also did nothing to sooth her rapidly growing feeling of utter embarrassment.

Sherry didn't reply to Armagnac. She was too busy chiding herself for everything. Jake was obviously uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. Too strong, she'd come on way to strong. And if that didn't make her feel bad enough, he now assumed she... that she'd proposed the idea in order to get into his pants. At least that was how she took his question. (Armagnac's ever growing laughter was not helping.) Sherry just blushed more.

"I..." She sat up and back, pointedly not touching him at all. "No...well. I mean I kind of assumed that we'd..." She was flustered. So many things she wanted to say, but somehow it was hard to actually form the words in her throat.



No. Thinking of what Armagnac might say only terrified Sherry. Which in turned made the weapon laugh more. Sherry sighed. Armagnac had a point.

Several heartbeats passed, several long, uncomfortable moments. Moments during which Sherry turned away, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. Moments in which a dragon laughed at her. Time during which she chose her words.

Her face was still warm, and while she turned her head partway towards Jake, her eyes fixed themselves on her coat, crumpled on the floor. "Would it be bad if I did? I... I wouldn't mind being more physical- beyond kisses and cuddles. Not that we'd have to share a room in order to...do that." Another sigh. They were just words, but they were so hard to say.

She was silent again, a moment of contemplation in which she bit her lip. "What exactly do you think about being more... intimate? And stuff... like sex? I know I said 'no sex' that one time...but that was... a long time ago."

Armagnac would have been rolling on the floor in laughter if that were possible. After dealing with Sherry being depressed about death, this was much, much more desirable a topic. And amusing. It seemed to cement her opinion that humans were kind of stupid, and Jake especially. Not to mention it completely backed up her argument that Sherry needed to be more assertive about everything. Mostly it was just amusing because if she didn't find it amusing she would find it annoying and Armagnac was done with finding this whole thing annoying. It was all much easier to handle when she laughed at it.

Sherry found it far less amusing. The laughter in her brain did not help, either. And the longer Jake sat silently, the more worry welled up in her stomach. His questions did little to alleviate that worry.

She turned to looked a him, hoping her worry wasn't evident on her face. Had she thought it through? She had thought about it, sure. She'd thought about the consequences, too. Things like this changed relationships, but so did moving in together, and agreeing to date, and things like rings. Having thought about it didn't make bringing it up like this any easier. Though it was probably better than not discussing it first. But it didn't make it easy~ there were just some things that were hard to talk about.

And Jake... he wasn't laughing at her or angry, it seemed. But she just didn't know how to take his response, not really. It... it felt on some level like rejection, even though it wasn't, really. Not yet anyway.

"I'm sure. I..have thought about it. Haven't yo-" Sherry swallowed the end of the question with the lump in her throat and smiled nervously. "You don't think it's a good idea?"

((Sherry talks about Zombie Babies in this post and maybe the next several so to anyone reading: if you don't want to read about that you should not read this post ok. OK. ))


She had kind of dreaded his answer. Depending on the what's and why's... Well. She was ready for it to hurt.

What he said did wound her, a little. Once again, he'd given a response she wasn't sure how to take. Just bring up the worst case scenario, just like that, Jake. Pregnancy wasn't something she wanted to deal with, at all. No. Just...

"Then I have a zombie baby--" She shrugged, trying to make it a joke. It didn't work. "But dammit, Jake, that's not funny. And it's what birth control and such is for. I certainly plan on preventing that." As if she hadn't thought about that issue before. Geez. She spent enough time in the Labs and the Infirmary to have heard all about the possibility. What did he take her for, an idiot?

Sherry sighed. "Look, you don't have to say anything more. I get it." Whether or not zombie babies was the real reason behind his reluctance didn't matter. "I'm sorry I brought it up."

She had not expected, of all the responses she could have gotten, to get a Jake that looked so very shocked. At least, that was how she read the look on his face.

"Yes. What? You...knew... right?"